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BATON ROUGE – LSU coach Les Miles has fooled coaches around the Southeastern Conference and the nation with his fakes punts and field goals and tight end reverses.

On Monday, he pulled a fast one on everyone by breaking from tradition and publicly naming a starting quarterback – true freshman Brandon Harris of Parkway High in Bossier City – for Saturday’s 6 p.m. game at No. 5 Auburn on ESPN. In the past when there was a question of which quarterback would start, that quarterback was often not told until later in the week, and it was often not made public until shortly before kickoff.

“Brandon Harris came in and gave us a great spark, and the team played well around him,” Miles said shortly after opening up his weekly press luncheon. “They scored touchdowns on seven possessions. He was 7-for-7 there.”

Harris came off the bench for regular starter Anthony Jennings in the second quarter and completed 11 of 14 passes for 178 yards and three touchdowns in a 63-7 win over New Mexico State.

“A very nice job, threw the ball well, made good decisions,” Miles said as he went over the previous game as in virtually every Monday press conference he has had in 10 years at LSU. Then he dropped the bombshell.

“It stands to reason that he would get first snaps in the next game,” Miles said. “But we’re going to need both quarterbacks. Anthony Jennings is a fine young man and busting his behind to prove himself and certainly is going to compete.”

Miles went on to review his team’s win and discussed Auburn. Then he was asked about his quarterback decision.

“I can tell you that I felt like Brandon Harris needed to know it, and I felt like Anthony Jennings needed to know it,” he said. “That’s the reason it was made.”

The decision is not necessarily permanent, though.

“We’ll take stock of what we’re doing and make sure that the offense is being run, doing the right things,” Miles said. “It’s an ongoing evolution, if you will.”

Miles was asked what jumped out at him about Harris’ last game in film.

“Really, he just did the things that we asked him to do, and that’s honestly all he needs to do, make quality decisions with the ball, function the offense,” he said. “He took a bad snap and scored. There is some ad lib to his game that’s very, very positive, and he’s a guy that is really fast and a guy that can really throw the ball. You put him in a quality position to extend a play, some good things can happen.”

Harris has completed 22 of 30 on the season (.733 completion percentage) for 394 yards and six touchdowns against one interception for a .243 efficiency rating that would lead the nation if he had enough attempts to qualify for the NCAA statistics.

“I think he’s more comfortable under center more now than he’s ever been,” Miles said.

“He’s an inspirational guy,” LSU center Elliott Porter said of Harris. “He inspires other people. That’s something that we need, especially as a quarterback. That’s the best quarterback you could want. He communicates.”

LSU (4-1, 1-0 Southeastern Conference) enters the Auburn game ranked No. 15 in the nation in the USA Today poll. Auburn is 4-0 overall and 1-0 in the SEC. LSU handed Auburn its only loss last season before Auburn lost to Florida State in the national championship game.

“We have to forget about last year and prepare for this year because they still a great team,” Porter said. “And we have to come with it.”